Beschreibung:

Anglo Boer War Ephemera
MEMENTO OF PAARDEBERG
Taken from Cronje's Laager dated 16 -4-00
A blank card (170 x130mm)with the following text: Informatie Bureau van het Roode Kruis, Pretoria. Bewijs van Identiteit no. 32875. The details of the memento are handwritten on the green linen back of this card, a good copy. Cronjé's move to Paardeberg: On 15 February, Cronjé's men, some 5,000 Transvaalers and Freestaters, finally evacuated their camp at Jacobsdal. Their position at Magersfontein was no longer relevant and they were in danger of being besieged in Jacobsdal by the British 7th Division under Lieutenant General Charles Tucker, which had turned west from Klip Drift. On the night of the 15th, the large convoy of Boer ox-wagons passed between the rear of French's division and the outposts of Lieutenant General Thomas Kelly Kenny's 6th Division at the Modder fords. Throughout the next day, the Boer mounted rearguards prevented the British 6th Division (with only one understrength mounted infantry unit) overtaking them. On the 17th, the large convoy of Boer wagons reached the crossing of the Modder at Paardeberg Drift. They were starting to cross the river when a force of 1,500 British mounted troops, almost all of French's fit horses and men who had covered the 40 miles (64 km) from Kimberley in another desperately tiring march, opened fire on them unexpectedly from the north, causing confusion. Cronjé then inadvisedly decided to form a laager and dig in on the banks of the Modder river. His reasons for doing so are unclear. The British with a total of 15,000 men outnumbered his force significantly and enjoyed overwhelming superiority in artillery. All the British would have to do was lay siege to the Boer position and bombard them at their leisure. On the other hand, the British had insufficient cavalry and it would have been an easy matter for Cronjé to brush them aside and link up other Boers east of the Modder; those under noted commander Christiaan De Wet who were only 30 miles (48 km) away to the south-east and other forces under Chief Commandant Ignatius S. Ferreira a similar distance to the north. Cronjé's encampment was subjected to an increasingly heavy artillery bombardment, as more guns (including a battery of 5-inch medium howitzers and another of 1-pounder "pom-poms") joined the besieging British forces. Almost every horse, mule and ox was killed, and the stench and flies became unbearable. On the last night of the battle, 26 February, the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry (now The Royal Canadian Regiment), having lost more than 70 soldiers in an earlier charge against sheltered Boer positions, were again called to take the lead in the routine daily battalion rotation. Instead of another charge the next morning as was expected, the Canadians, with the help of Royal Engineers, advanced at night towards the Boer camp, then set about digging trenches on high ground 65 yards from the Boer lines. On 27 February 1900, the Boers woke up staring into the muzzles of Canadian rifles and surrendered. Cronjé surrendered with some 4,019 men and 50 women; around 10% of the Boers' entire army were now prisoners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Paardeberg Overall Condition: A Good Copy